Daft Punk in France. They're national icons, and even Macron likes them.

Belgium , you can go for "Stromae" if you want to appeal to a younger public :-)

Sweden: Astrid Lindgren the childrens book author is pretty much as beloved as a person can get. She's even on our money.

Scotland - probably the best chance of a good reaction is to mention The Proclaimers (they of the 500 Miles song)

Although personally I'm not a fan! So if you're in Dunfermline, mention The Skids and you'll probably be alright :-)

I'm watching this thread with great interest 👀

For the US, maybe Dolly Parton?

Sticking to popular, mainstream rock and pop options I'd say Bernard Fanning/Powderfinger is a good representation of Australian rock that doesn't really polarise as much as the more cultural cringe options like Darryl Braithwaite, John Farnham or Jimmy Barnes. There's also Kylie Minogue who might not be everyone's cup of tea, but is unlikely to be actively disliked by most.

Midnight oil, INXS would be good picks too.

Gordon Lightfoot!

Germany is big, but I think a good one that ruffles no feathers is Santiano (a sea-man shanty like band), though obviously Ramstein is bigger, but some people think that they are nazis (which they aren't, they are provocative)

Technotronic, from Belgium, had that 1989 techno anthem, Pump Up the Jam.

I'm American but when I visited Iceland everybody loved Björk and loved talking about Björk. She's like a national icon

Chuck Tingle has some good literary art. I believe he's from the USA

Italy: Elio e le storie tese... They are somewhat of a "mainstream niche band"; Italians would be astonished that you know of them, you should mention the song Mio cugino (my cousin)

In Argentina it must be Carlos Gardel - the most prominent exponent of Tango. You can walk around a corner in Buenos Aires on a Sunday to find a bunch of people dancing tango .. all dressed up to the nines (sorry!). It's amazing. Beautiful country and such an elegant city.

Aotearoa. Suzy Cato is universally loved, but people could be suspicious about how you came to know about her.

For Austria, you can mention an old internationally known classic, falco

or e.a.v.

these will never have you out of place

The only artist I would personally get excited about if someone foreign knew of them is the author Thomas Bernhard (Austria), but he was famous and infamous for hating Austrian culture and it wouldn‘t go over well with many others here I suppose.

So I posit some more widely liked people: Mozart, Falco or Arnold Schwarzenegger.

When I spent a little time in Malawi, people always loved it if you recognised Evison Matafale's music.

Australia - Powderfinger... Nice

Also, Something For Kate would be a good one.

[Double comment to avoid editing the other] This album (Kayah and Bregović) can be used for two countries, if you want - as the singer (Kayah) is from Poland, and the instrumental is from Goran Bregović, from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Switzerland

DJ Bobo or Patent Ochsner.

Depends on the crowd, so here are a few options in the order of my preference:

• The Kovenant (Not to be confused with Covenant. They're swedish and awful)
• Dumdum Boys
• Postgirobygget

Honorable mention: Circus Maximus. They'd be ranked on top of this list if I believed that the random norwegian you ran into had ever heard of them.